Mitchell Meister found not guilty by reason of insanity in Crossroads mall threats case

Mitchell Meister SentencingMitchell Meister, who made threats over the phone last year to fire a gun at The Crossroads Mall in Portage appears before Judge Gary Giguere Monday. Meister was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the incident.

Mitchell C. Meister, 23, appeared before Judge Gary C. Giguere Jr. during a hearing in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.

In issuing his ruling Monday, Giguere read into the record portions of the Portage Department of Public Safety report, as well as a Jan. 14 letter authored by David Boersma, a psychologist for the Michigan Department of Community Health, who concluded that Meister had a psychotic break and was “severely impaired” at the time of the July 12 incident.

Meister was charged with one count each of making a terrorist threat or false report of terrorism and resisting and obstructing police following the incident.

“Here, I find that all of the elements of the two crimes have been proven by the … investigation,” Giguere said. “… The court, based on the stipulations of the prosecutor and the defense attorney in this matter adopts as its own the findings … made by (Boersma).”

Following the hearing, Giguere ordered that Meister be committed to the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry for no more than two months to undergo an evaluation.

Meister said little during Monday’s hearing, other than to give yes and no answers to questions from Giguere.

At the time of the incident in July, Portage police evacuated The Crossroads after Meister’s stepfather reported that his stepson had contacted his mother to tell her he was at the mall with a gun and would start shooting people if she didn’t pick him up, according to court documents.

After the report from his stepfather, dispatchers received several more unusual call to 911, including one in which a caller disguised his voice and said “three people are dead. In another, a caller identified himself as “Mitchell (expletive) Meister.”

In his Jan. 14 letter, Boersma concluded “there is adequate support for a finding of legal insanity in this case. In this examiner’s opinion, Mr. Meister was both mentally ill as defined by statute and legally insane at the time in question.”

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.